Schools are in top 100 for STEM education

Vernon Hills, Lake Forest high schools among seven in Illinois to make list

July 08, 2013|By Danielle Gensburg, Special to the Tribune

Two Lake County high schools ranked among the best of the best in math, science, engineering and technology education, also known as STEM, according to recent U.S. News and World Report rankings.

Lake Forest High School, ranked 50th, and Vernon Hills High School, ranked 94th, were among seven high schools in Illinois to make the top 100 nationally for STEM education.

"We're very excited that Vernon Hills High School has earned this recognition," said Prentiss Lea, Community High School District 128 superintendent. "It's really indicative of our advanced placement scores, science and mathematics programs, and the outstanding work that our teachers do."

"At Lake Forest High School, it's cool to be smart," said Jim Sullivan, Districts 67 and 115 school administrator. "It's a real supportive educational community. Our students are encouraged to stretch and try something that's very challenging and they will generally have the determination to stick with it."

U.S. News and World report determined the best high schools for math, science, engineering and technology by first looking through schools previously ranked in the top 500 best high schools in the nation. These high schools were then evaluated based on students' participation and success in Advanced Placement science and math courses, according to the U.S. News and World report's website.

"We're very pleased to be ranked at that level," Vernon Hills High School Principal Ellen Cwick said. "We really have had a big push to encourage all students with a challenging curriculum to always reach and whatever level they are at, to take the more challenging level."

Teachers, staff and administrators at both high schools attribute their schools' ranking in STEM education to challenging core curricula and high advanced placement scores.

"We have more than doubled the number of our students taking advanced placement classes," Lea said. "We have also just had our highest ever success rate of scores at 3s, 4s and 5s on advanced placement tests, over 90 percent."

Lea said Vernon Hills High School will continue to grow its math and science programs and encourage students to take more rigorous classes.

"Our numbers in math and science and engineering, they just continue to increase each year," Cwick said. "We love when a student takes four years of math and four years of science. Some of the students even double on science or math courses in a semester."

Sullivan credited aligning Lake Forest High School's curriculum with next-generation science standards as one of the reasons for its STEM ranking.

"The new curriculum is based on what can students do, not what can we teach them," Sullivan said. "It involves interpretation and engineering, where you come up a design problem and you have to try to solve it."

Sullivan said students at Lake Forest have participated in experiments such as an egg drop competition where they are required to assemble an apparatus out of toothpicks and glue. The apparatus has to protect the egg from breaking after being dropped from a height of two to three stories.

Other high schools in Illinois that ranked in the top 100 for STEM education include New Trier Township High School, ranked 20th, Northside College Preparatory High School, ranked 37th, Adelai E. Stevenson High School, ranked 46th, Highland Park High School, ranked 48th, and Glenbrook North High School, ranked 56th.